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Monday, March 5, 2018

Spacing Considerations

Spacing. It's not all the same. Chuck Daly remarked, "offense is spacing and spacing is offense," both truth and a fine use of rhetorical chiasmus. Excellent players play in space. Adults tell children, "do not play in the traffic." Good advice. Spacing informs NOT playing in the traffic. Bad spacing hijacks offense.

You can envision 'spacing' zones. Consider using the 3-point line as the SPACING LINE. Spacing opens driving and passing lanes; spacing makes it more difficult for defenders to double team. Draw 2 (the help defender) and free a teammate. "Sets" establish spacing early. Defense always involves five players but offense frequently comprises fewer. If you want a bigger offensive role, embrace spacing.

The basketball resembles magnets with polarity. Done right, offense repels players from the ball; defensively the ball is a magnet (right, "Helpside I")

Westfield State tried to run dribble handoff (DHO) into secondary screen-and-roll against Tufts in the Women's D3 first round game Friday night. Tufts switched everything and shut it down. One limitation of highly screen-oriented offense is changing the spacing. Spacing creates "natural" offense. But receivers must remember that "the ball is a camera" and you must get into a passing lane to get in the picture.

You want to drive your coach crazy? NEVER cut to an OCCUPIED POST. Spacing killers are coach killers. I'm not saying that players can't cross screen, but that involves both players aware of intent and execution. Some players habitually violate this rule. They sit.

Spacing is dynamic. 3 (sink to corner) and 2 relocate to create opportunities for themselves as perimeter shooters. Real-world NBA examples. Even non-elite NBA teams space. Medium shares spacing, cutting, and passing leading to high quality offense. Mavs Drill from Ganon Baker:Baker brings more intensity to the drill with a second ball. I like that.